Meet your senator: Ty Aller, Graduate Studies
Utah State University’s graduate student body is often overshadowed by a much larger undergraduate population. However, Ty Aller, a grad student himself, works to give his fellow classmates a voice as USU Student Association’s current graduate studies senator.
The Logan native received his undergraduate degree as a double major in political science and human development at USU in 2012. Since then he has received a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy, and has since spent the following years working on his PhD in family science and development, which he hopes he will finish by summer 2018.
However, Aller’s academic accomplishments far transcend the classroom. Working as the graduate studies senator, Aller has become an integral part of the care, support, and funding of USU’s graduate students.
“I try to represent the student’s voices,” he said. “My job is to be the liaison between the students and the administration.”
As the middleman between the two groups, Aller meets with several students, leaders, and academic representatives of several institutions on a daily basis. These meetings cover an array of issues, from healthcare to the $92,000 of graduate funding available to spend.
With such a demanding workload and various responsibilities, Aller keeps in mind the reason why he works as a senator for the students.
“The goal has never been my own self-interested pursuits, but it has always been more about what I can do for the students,” he said. “I’m hoping, with that in mind, we can all make positive movements together. At the end of the day I really want graduate students to have a voice, because they often feel they do not have that.”
Along with involvement the USUSA and his personal educational pursuits, Aller is involved in a plethora of other activities. He is currently student regent of Utah’s Board of Regents, a governing board in charge of overseeing the higher learning institutions across the entire state of Utah. As a member, Aller serves not only as a voice for USU on a large stage, but he also represents students of the seven other institutions across the state of Utah.
Aller has also made the shift from student to teacher this semester as a new instructor for Family Resource Management on campus, and considers the task, “a unique challenge.”
“It really has taught me what I don’t know more than what I thought I knew already,” he said.
Of Aller’s accomplishments, one of the main aspects he attributes his success to is not himself, but others.
“Every single accomplishment I have ever achieved has been a team effort,” he states. “It’s always a matter of ‘we,’ or ‘us.’ It has never been just me.”
Being awareness of the support of others around him is advice Aller follows himself and offers to the students around him.
“I really believe that the people around you will teach you more about the world than you could ever know on your own,” he said. “You’re here on campus to learn, not just to socialize and have fun. Yes, (socializing and fun) are important to the college experience, but you are here to learn, to serve the community, and to eventually become something much bigger than yourself.”
With over four years of graduate experience under his belt, Aller is on campus to make an impact and help others to do the same. He firmly believes that anyone can make a difference, no matter where they stand.
“A lot of our best ideas at USUSA come from typical students who want to make an improvement,” Aller said. “Many of the ideas we come up with are not ours, and that’s really cool.”
Aller is here to give students a voice, standing with them to make sure they are heard.
@RileyHef